Born and raised in the Philippines, Margarita McClure spent a good part of her life thinking she would end up with a career or a business in the food service industry. She graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Hotel & Restaurant Administration, then received an Associate Degree from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco where she graduated at the top of her class.

Our guest on this segment of the Brain is a marketing consultant and the author of 7 books on various subjects relating to business and non-profit organizations. In 1985 Shel Horowitz published the first of five books on low-cost, high-impact marketing. His client list now includes accounts in Europe, Asia, and all across the U.S.; his books have sold to dozens of countries, one of them has been translated into Korean, and another has been sold to publishers in India and Mexico.
Shel now offers not only copywriting and strategic marketing planning, but also speaks on affordable, effective marketing to national audiences.

All businesses need to consider motivating their employees to keep them happy by creating incentives to encourage them to deliver great performance on the job. Our guest on this segment of the Smallbiz Brain is an expert in creating programs that help companies do just that.

In my interview with Dr. Ritch Sorenson says that family businesses make the some of the most most important contributions to the American economy. He also is a true believer in the success of family businesses.Dr. Sorenson holds the Opus Chair in Family Enterprise at the University of St. Thomas- Opus College of Business’ /Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. In that role, he integrates family business concepts into the broader business school vision, serves as a family enterprise ambassador to the larger business community and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses.
Sorenson’s work has been published in many journals including Family Business Review, Journal of Business Venturing Group and Organizational Studies, The Leadership Quarterly and Academy of Management Executive.

Our guest on this segment of the Smallbiz Brain has 30 years of managerial experience in line and staff positions in Fortune 500, entrepreneurial, and educational contexts. Since 1989, Bill Monson has been in leadership roles in executive education at the University of St. Thomas first as Director of the Executive MBA program and now as Director of the Center for Family Enterprise. Prior to these positions he managed a start-up venture, was the Manager of Corporate Management Development at Medtronic, and was Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in Management at the College of St. Thomas.

Our guest on this segment of the Smallbiz Brain has owned retail businesses, restaurants and consulting practices. Today Mary Pat Kavanagh’s specialty is teaching her clients to create strategic, profitable, long-lasting relationships using social networking.

Our guest on this segment is a dynamic leader, successful entrepreneur. Ken Wolf is the President, CEO and co-founder of Revelwood .The company provides performance management solutions to Fortune 1000 and mid-market companies, and is a top growth company on the Entrex Private Company index. Revelwood’s performance management solutions bring ease, speed and flexibility to enterprise planning, reporting and analytics.

About Steve Olson

Steve Olson is a leading authority on franchising. He is Publisher of Franchise Update Media Group, an industry resource for over 2000 franchise organizations. He has recently authored the book, “Grow to Greatness: how to build a world-class franchise system faster.”

With nearly 30 years in franchise consulting, sales and executive management, Steve specializes in accelerating expansion for emerging and established franchise brands. He has served on franchise boards and is a frequent columnist and speaker on the subject of franchising.

Our guest on this segment of the Smallbiz Brain was verrrry thirsty. Seth Goldman was continually in search of the perfect drink to quench his thirst after a run, a game of basketball or between grad school classes. This thirst for the perfect quench paralleled his path to co-found Honest Tea. That was about ten years ago.
Today, Honest Tea can be found in tens of thousands of stores across the US. The company has applied its passion for social responsibility to initiatives in the environment and to creating partnerships with the growers, cultures, and communities behind the teas.

Our guest on this segment of the Smallbiz Brain is a master on the subject of leadership. Kevin Cashman is a senior partner at Los Angeles based Korn/Ferry International —a premier global provider of leadership and talent consulting services. Mr. Cashman is also the author of Leadership from the Inside Out.